Battling the Blues, game 1: Perron revisits Thornton hit, the first 10 to 15 minutes, ex-Sharks in enemy camp

ST. LOUIS — The Sharks had an optional skate this morning, so know way of knowing if Todd McLellan is planning any lineup surprises. But to me the only doubt is whether Michal Handzus or T.J Galiardi finds himself on the bench. My guess? Handzus.

On defense, it looks as if Jason Demers might be the odd man out tonight, but again, that’s an educated guess and nothing more. McLellan wouldn’t go there when asked.

That out of the way, a look at some of the game-day hockey buzz in a St. Louis city crowded with 70,000 convening members of the National Rifle Association as well as baseball fans looking forward to the Cardinals home opener tomorrow night. Plenty going on here on the banks of the Mississippi.

*****Maybe the most interesting little development is David Perron’s willingness to label the November 2010 hit by Joe Thornton that sidelined the Blues forward for 97 games as a dirty one.

“I don’t know how it wasn’t,” Perron said today. “He came out of the box and I don’t know he’s coming and he still hit me high in the head. But, again, I’m over it and it’s not going to be about getting revenge on him. For us, it’s going to be about beating the Sharks and that would be the best revenge I can get.”

Perron has said in the past that Thornton is a good guy and showed class by welcoming him back when the two played against each other during the regular season. And he didn’t sound like it would be personal tonight.

“Really, I’m going to go out there tonight and Joe’s just going to be another guy. He’s a real good player in this league and we’re going to do as good a job as we can to shut him down,” Perron said.

Thornton said a couple days ago that he didn’t think the incident was going to make the reception at Scottrade Center any more hostile than the one any visiting team gets in the playoffs.

Stay tuned.

*****If Dan Boyle is right, you won’t want to miss the first 10 minutes of what happens tonight when the Sharks and St. Louis Blues go at it in the opener of their first-round playoff series. But Todd McLellan says you probably want to focus on the five minutes that follow even more.

First, Boyle.

“I think that the first 10 minutes of the playoffs as a whole is the hardest 10 minutes you play,” Dan Boyle said. “Everybody’s just insane, just so excited and amped up. The first game, to me and my experience, has always been the craziest 10 minutes of the playoffs.

“It’s like a bunch of caged aimals when the playoffs start,” Boyle added later. “Everybody just kind of gets crazy and cuts loose.”

Other Sharks echoed similar thoughts, but McLellan offered a variation on the theme.

“I don’t know that the first 10 minutes of game 1 are going to be a true indicator of how the series is going to go,” he said. “I think there’s going to be a lot of emotion and tempo and that kind of stuff. But I think minutes 10 through 15 may be a little more realistic of how that series will play out.”

******However things play out, the Sharks are in slightly unfamiliar territory. For the past four years, game 1 of the first round was at HP Pavilion. And they’re trying not to see the current situation as a disadvantage. Steal a game on the road early in a series and reverse the roles would be the thinking.

“As a home team, you never think about it that way because you don’t want to put pressure on yourself,” Ryane Clowe said. “But I remember the year we played Colorado and they beat us at home and they had us right to the end of the second game. You feel a bit of pressure there.”

Joe Thornton fudged on whether the team has a different mindset starting away from home.

“I don’t know, when you go on the road, it would be nice to win and get the early lead and put pressure on them. But is it different? I don’t know. It’s playoffs and it’s just so important,” he said. “It’ll be strange but it’s a good thing I think. Hopefully we’ll get a lead in the series and put some pressure on these guys.”

******Blues coach Ken Hitchcock has been very open in noting that his entire team sat down and listened as Scott Nichol and Kent Huskins offered insights into the Sharks team both played for a year ago.

But Nichol tried not to put too much importance on what was discussed.

It helps “anytime you have an inside track a little bit, know their personnel a little bit more, their tendencies, some of the plays, but the bottom lie is there’s really no secrets anymore,” he said. “It all comes down to execution and getting a lucky break here or there.”

Huskins has maintained ties with his ex-teammates. Torrey Mitchell and his girlfriend, for example, spent the all-star break with the defenseman and his family in Southern California. That won’t matter starting tonight.

“It’s all business out there, there’s no friends or anytning,” Huskins said. “You cut ties and just kind of focus what needs to be done on the ice.”

*****Much is being made of the experience gap, how the Blues have three guys playing in their first post-season game and six others who have four of fewer playoff games under their belt.

Tommy Wingels is the lone Shark playing his first post-season game tonight and he’s not making a big deal out of it.

“You’ve just got to go out there and play,” he said. “Obviously it’s a bigger stage here, but it doesn’t change the way I’ve got to play. In that sense, that’s what I’m looking to do.”

And he’s not focusing on the expected increase in intensity?

“No, just focused on what I can control and the way I play.”

*****Finally, if Marty Havlat has the kind of series the Sharks acquired him to provide, Hitchcock won’t be surprised. Here’s what the Blues coach had to say about Havlat this week based on Havlat’s performance in Ottawa:

“I’ve coached against Havlat where it wasn’t even close, he was the best player in the series every game when we were in Philly. It wasn’t even close. He was better than Hossa. I know what he can do. I saw him in the Worlds last year, I know what this guy can do.”

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

Gotta say, loved seeing Murray clearing out the 2 Blues by the net on that one play. Knocks one guy down, knocks the next guy on top of the first guy. Doesn’t show up in the stat sheet, I guess. But it was memorable!!!

Jeff Fredericks

Outplayed, yet win the game. Maybe this low seed thing isn’t such a bad idea because we’ve been on the wrong end of that scenario far too many times.

First playoff game a Sharks goalie had stolen in 100 years, or something close to that…

WTF

Really, another opposition troll here? Hey Blues fan, the Canucks aren’t even going to make it past LA. Since you’re already conceding the Sharks are going to get past your team, then who do they play? Doesn’t matter to you then, your hockey season will be over!

2Teal4You

Sharks are playing with house money Saturday. Take the body and test the blues resolve. Worst case scenario sharks come home with home ice advantage.

Hitch as always played the mental game playing up the opposition (as he’s done all year) naming Havlat a huge threat. FACE WASH HITCHER!!

Porcelain doll comes through. Eat it MLB.

ZEKE

So Berglund, Boyle and Havlat are the 3 stars — but no Niemi? Jeez, he was the number 1 star as far as I’m concerned. He was strong all game, but his work in OT was stellar.

Havlat had a lot to do with 4 goals, two he scored for us — and the two StL scored. His turnover led to the first StL goal, his penalty put them on the PP where StL got their second goal.

Eyes did not deceive me either. The Mitchell/Galiardi/Moore line got a lot more ice time than Desi/Wingels/Winnik (roughly 19min to 14min) — Desi got the least ice time on the team. I hold my breath every time I see that MGM line on the ice. Noticed that Reaves only played 8 minutes — did he get hurt when he ran into Nemo?

Be real interesting to see if either team plays tired in game 2. Lots of rest prior to this game and a day off without travel — but its 20 minutes more than anyone’s played so far this year and there are some older guys on each team.

Going waaaaay back to our discussion of the Weber hit… gotta’ give it to ya’, your last reply was hilarious. 🙂 And if you WERE actually Al Iafrate, there would be no fight; I would give the remote to you willingly. 😉

Like Stevo, I hope you hang around a little more for these playoffs! The Sharks ARE actually still in them… 😛

Dirty Bionic Eyeball

Sharks in 3.

hondr

The porcelain doll giveth!

Couldn’t watch anything but the OT’s, but the Sharks weren’t doing anything, so it was a perfect time for this guy to strike. He wasn’t first star, so presumably he earlier tooketh away, as usual.

But you put the puck on net and good things happen, and he’s smart enough to do that much at least, and in a manner unlike Slow Joe’s one shot, a weak long range flipper into Halak’s waiting glove, to stop OT play so the slug could get off the ice.

But now St. Louis has to figure out a way to solve Niemi. I sorta figured TMac knew what he was doing there, eschewing the calls for Griess.

Buddy Elf

LOL Dirty! Good stuff.

SactoShark

Alaskan good to see you back here. Same with Czech Peter

Southlake

I’ll accept my public flogging. I said I didn’t thinki Niemi was going to be stealing anything for us and I will happily admit I was wrong. Man, he really kept us in the game with some huge saves. Credit where credit is due. And Marty- I could kiss that man. Ginger beard and all. Overall, thrilled with such a big win.

Man, if we can teach Galiardi to shoot straight, he’d be one heck of a hockey player. He really gets himself into good positions in front of the net, and somehow keeps some open space around him. I’m bummed none of those shots made it in, but hoping it’s only a matter of time.

Our third and fourth lines were really working last night. They may not score as often, but I love how hard those guys work for the puck.

I’m a little nervous for next game, because we did look outplayed for long stretches of that game. But, I’m hoping this can shake their confidence some, maybe knock the fan cheers down a couple decibels and help clear the way for the next win.

Doug H

great win,

id say the only time we were truly dominated was the first OT. and niemi came up big. the rest of the game was close, with slight edge to blues on possession, slight edge to us on quality chances. never thought id write that about the sharks.

hmslion

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. If my fading memory serves me, we have a history of losing the first game at home, but then finding a way to win the series.

It’s a great start. But we need three more….

Snow Shovel

Bullship has been deleted – and rightfully so.

David has been quietly deleting posts this year that crossed the line. In the past, he used to mention it sometimes but not year.

David, I think it’s a good thing if you notify us that you deleted posts. It can make people think twice before posting bad stuff. It’s also a reminder to follow the rules. Some commentators take a lot of liberties.